£3.5M APARTMENT PLAN FOR WEST END 2

FHP City Living have converted a Mill and built new apartments at the Brookbridge complex between Bridge Street and Brook Street. A group of 1960s warehouses have been demolished to make way for the scheme, six mill buildings have been converted and a new block built. The mill complex is one of only a handful in the East Midlands to receive the Grade II* rating from English Heritage. Builder Thomas Fish and Sons Ltd, which has owned the mills for the past three years, spent more than four years gaining listed building consent. It is the first residential development to be built in Derby by Thomas Fish and Sons for a partnership of Metropolitan Housing and Peak Court Mills. The complex, which was one of the first of its kind in Derbyshire, offered a shared ownership scheme to attract key workers.

This part buy/part rent scheme means that Derby's teachers were given first choice of 30 of the 104 apartments and were allowed to buy a 50% share of the flat and pay a subsidised rent rate on the other half. Under the scheme, a flat valued at £96,000 would cost the buyer £48,000 for a 50% share, but their outgoings for rent and mortgage would be the same as the repayments of a £72,000 standard rate mortgage. After six months, the 30 priority flats were available to people on the city's joint housing register, although people had to prove they were unable to afford a similar property at market prices first. The apartments are all new properties, with gas central heating and allocated parking spaces and cost between £120,000 and £130,000.

The development is secured and entry to the buildings is via an audio entry phone system. The part buy/part rent scheme is aimed at getting teachers, nurses and other key workers onto the property ladder. Providing affordable housing was a condition of the Brook Bridge development laid down by Derby City Council. A study into the affordability of city centre accommodation for key workers carried out by the council in 2003 showed that the continuing rise in house prices was making it difficult for public sector workers to buy property.

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